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Thai Foreign Minister breaks taboo on role of monarchy
The Foreign Minister of Thailand has called for an open debate on reform of the country's monarchy; an unprecedented proposal in a land where discussion of the role of the Royal Family is taboo.
Speaking in Washington, Kasit Piromya drew comparisons with the monarchies of Britain and the Netherlands. Both countries tolerate criticism of their Royal families, which would be regarded as a serious crime in Thailand, where lèse-majesté, or insulting the king, is punishable with 15 years in prison.
Mr Kasit's words will provoke further nervousness among a population already anxious about an ongoing political crisis and the continuing ill health of the 82-year-old king, Bhumibol Adulyadej. Abhisit Vejjajiva, the Prime Minister, is under intense pressure to dissolve parliament after battles between police and anti-government protesters in which 21 people died last Saturday.
"It is a process that we have to go through and I think we should be brave enough to go through all of this and to talk about even the taboo subject of the institution of the monarchy," Mr Kasit said at a seminar in Washington, where he is attending the nuclear security conference.
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"I think we have to talk about the institution of the monarchy, how it would have to reform itself to the modern globalised world. Everything is now becoming in the open. Let's have a discussion: what type of democratic society would we like to be?"
Thailand's lèse-majesté law has made any meaningful discussion of the role and future of the monarchy impossibly dangerous. Indeed, there sometimes seems to be little limit on what can be regarded as insulting the monarchy.
Recently, however, there have been signs that the taboo is being eroded. Last night the Australian television channel ABC broadcast a documentary on the Thai Royal Family which included scenes from an extraordinary video showing King Bhumibol's daughter-in-law, Crown Princess Srirasmi, dining privately with Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn at a birthday party for her husband's dog. In the video, which has been posted on the internet, the princess is topless and, at one point, she eats off a plate placed on the ground by the Crown Prince.
Mr Kasit is the most senior Thai politician to speak openly about reform of the monarchy. In remarks that will further stir Thailand's political turmoil, he also accused the former prime minister, Thaksin Shinawatra, of being "a bloody terrorist" and compared him with Stalin, Mussolini and Hitler. He denounced foreign governments, including Russia and Germany, as well as Interpol, for not co-operating in returning Mr Thaksin to Thailand, where he has been convicted in absentia on corruption charges.
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